I think because things feel so intense in 2026, people forget life wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows back in the day. Aside from political and social turmoil, the crimes committed were just as violent and horrifying then as they are today. The only difference is that now we have the internet to thank for making it feel “more common” than it was. One great thing about the internet, though, is that it has brought a lot of peace to families who otherwise may have never known what happened to their children who went missing or were killed.
Most recently, the family of Roxanne Sharp is getting closure after 41 years of wondering who dumped her young 16-year-old body in the woods in 1982.
A podcast called ‘Who Killed Roxanne Sharp?‘ presented prosecutors with new evidence that led to the arrest of four men.
Roxanne Sharp, 16, was found murdered and raped on February 12, 1982, in a wooded area in Louisiana, Daily Mail reported. The young woman’s untimely death remained unsolved after authorities struggled to connect with any witnesses and had no leads, according to the Associated Press. Four decades later, investigators reached out to a local media outlet and convinced it to produce a podcast in hopes of renewing public interest in the case.
“When we started the podcast, we kind of thought nobody cared – we were quickly corrected,” shared Charles Dowdy, vice president of the company that produced the podcast, Northshore Media, according to AP. “A lot of people stepped up and said they knew Roxanne, they remembered her, they were friends with her.”
Louisiana State Police spokesperson Marc Gremillion told AP that the podcast was credited for generating crucial tips and prompting witnesses to come forward.
“It helped our investigators piece together where Roxanne was days before to the time she died, to where we’re at now,” Gremillion told the outlet. “It was a very large help with getting that message out to the public, and then, therefore, those witnesses getting back to us.”
Authorities were able to charge four men with aggravated rape and second-degree murder over the last few days of April 2026.
Perry Wayne Taylor, 64; Darrell Dean Spell, 64; Carlos Cooper, 64; and Billy Williams, Jr., 62, are all being charged in Sharp’s death.
As District Attorney Collin Sims stated, “This case is a powerful example of what persistence, collaboration, and advancements in investigative technology can accomplish…and our unwavering commitment to pursue justice – no matter how much time has passed.”
However, Williams Jr.’s son, Billy Williams III, said his father maintains he is innocent. “He thinks they’re putting him in for something he didn’t do,” he explained. “He says he would never in his life hurt anyone.”
Williams and Spell were arrested earlier this week, but Cooper and Spell were already in custody for unrelated charges.
CBS News added that Sharp was believed to be an acquaintance of these men and knew them fairly well.
“We appreciate the hard work and love that has been shown to Roxanne Sharp’s case,” Sharp’s niece Michelle Lappin shared in a statement on behalf of the family. “We hope that with justice will come healing and closure for our family, her loved ones, and the community.”
Justin Joiner, a resident of the local parish in which Sharp went missing, told AP that that his father was a police officer on the case, and he remembers it was a very controversial topic to discuss.
“It’s been a big black cloud on the community,” Joiner shared. “Nobody would talk about it — it was hush, hush, you talk about it in your house, not in public.”
The podcast changed all of that and ended up putting Sharp’s family on the road to justice four decades later.
